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by sashavingardt2 2253 days ago
Why is this at the top of HN?
5 comments

It's common for quirky, easy-to-understand technical posts, for example that cover something familiar from an unfamiliar angle, to do well on HN.
This is a FAQ now, I think.

The answer is a combination of:

* somebody submitted it

* people upvoted it

* the algorithm weights new more than old

* lots of people have things to say about it, including recommendations for other tools, neat hacks, and observations on general utility

It goes to show that terminal fanatics still haven't find a simple solution to this problem even after 50 years.
I've been asking myself that question more and more. It seems HN has been slowly becoming a Reddit-lite. There are significantly more low-quality "thanks! this is great!" comments and "witty" one-liners everywhere.

Not to mention posts like these.

People have been saying this since before Startup News was renamed to Hacker News in 2007: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

More here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21755721

Everyone is a beginner at some point. Community and content shape the culture.